As to what is happening at our beloved Lodge, one is either verklempt or pisk . . no middle of the road!
(couldn't help myself . . .sorry)
Will admit that I had to look up the word pisk. You're right, either one or the other.
Day Two: Started early as we were up by 6:15 and hitting EMH at MK by 7:50. Unlike past EMHs during busy seasons, the only Lands open were Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. However, they had opened up the park about five minutes earlier than our arrival, so Fantasyland was already booming. We opted for Buzz and rode him twice back to back. After that, it was Starbucks, people watching, then off to Liberty Square for HM. . .only it wasn't working (the theme for the day). So, POTC was up next followed by Tiki Room. Went back by HM (still not working) and opted for Philharmagic. At that point, it was time for us to head over to DHS for lunch after a quick stop at the Lodge. We were at the boat launch by 10:25 but had no boat for half an hour as one of them apparently was down since the one we finally secured looked like a floating barge with a roof. Our quick stop at the Lodge took a few minutes longer as we stopped by
DVC desk for grins and the rep there talked us into meeting with a sales center person later that afternoon. The reward for what wound up being about 30 minutes talking to the sales rep? Three FPs for both of us good anywhere, any ride, for the next 72 hours. We chose to go to Poly in order to view the bungalows.
We did lunch at Brown Derby, got picked up by the DVC staff backstage there (cool!), and then toured a bungalow. Wow. Gorgeous but pricey, of course. The special offer going on? An extra 10 points for minimum 100 point purchase with points at $168 per. Uh, no. But we did score our FPs and weren't pressured at all, so worth the extra effort. Oh, while at DHS, ToT was down for a bit, so our FP at 1 was good anytime after the ride came back up which was shortly before 2. FP line took 25 minutes as only two elevators were working, while the standby line wait was 2 hours. . .and there were tons of people in that line! RnR went smoothly, but when we got on Star Tours, the ride started then shut down at the very moment Darth appears, sticks out his hand, and says we can't leave due to a rebel on board. Five minutes later, the ride restarted. Dinner tonight was Coral Reef and it was quite good, actually, especially the grilled octopus appetizer. Topnotch!
As for Disney news, I'm still seething a bit that the geese topiaries have also disappeared, especially since we had noted that at least those were still there a mere six weeks ago. Construction has laid some vertical piping, especially the northwest corner of the zone which I'm guessing might be plumbing for bathrooms? On the southeast corner of the zone, along where the nature trail used to be, a dozer was digging a large hole yesterday, but it was filled in today and covered over with sand. As for the cabins being built, based on our observations along the shore line near the north wing of the Lodge as we boated over to MK, there is still a line of trees along that stretch leading us to believe that for there to be any actual view toward MK, those would have to come down. Since they haven't, I'd venture a guess they may take down a couple of trees or three to place a cabin there but leave trees between cabins. Someone with construction experience might have a different thought. Also, while speaking with the DVC sales rep during our tour of the Poly bungalow, I asked if he knew what the cabin configuration would be at VWL II. Though he didn't know specifics, he did say that DVC "had learned its lesson about not building 1BR & 2BR suites" at the Poly, implying that some of the converted Lodge rooms would be 1 and 2 BRs. This comment, along with the new Poly offer, the fact that the Poly hasn't sold out (it has 340+ studios), the knowledge that the bungalows aren't solidly booked ("easy to get at 7 months" said our rep, plus he mentioned the bungalow we viewed is almost never booked), and the fact that 6-8 rooms on the bottom floor of one of the PVB studio buildings are devoted to DVC staff and studio models indicate to me that PVB studio sales are underwhelming. Easy math tells you why: say you buy the 100 points (plus 10 extra) for nearly $17K, then all you get is a week in a studio during Adventure Season. Those points won't get you a single night in a bungalow unless you bank and borrow. Doing so would give you two nights during Adventure Season every three years with a few points left over to spend in a studio about three nights. That's steep, my friends, although both the studios and bungalows are very, very nice.
. And we could care LESS about construction - staying at VWL 
. And those folks need the tip income for their families 
when they caught their mistake (after I notified them 3X's 
) they took them out in one big whoop. OOh how nice, a paycheck for 217.00 for the month, this should be interesting. 
I was pretty hungry after arriving so I went to Gasparilla grill and had a Cuban sandwich. Their version is not something that I would be able to recommend. 
Remember dear, Florida has lots of LARGE bugs, extreme heat in summer, LARGE snakes . . . . . and Bobcats!
I suppose the old adage "time will tell" applies here.
